Presidential Transition Announcement

Dear Rockhurst University Community, 

I write to share with you that I plan to complete my tenure as president of Rockhurst University on June 30, 2022. Thomas Hastings, ’81, MD, FACP, board chairman, will soon provide you with the process and details involved with the selection of my successor.

At the completion of my 16 years, I will take a sabbatical and prepare for my next assignment. Fr. Tom Greene, S.J., my provincial, and I have already begun the process of discernment about where and how I will be missioned. As this missioning becomes more certain, I hope you will permit me the opportunity to share that information with you.

During our recent All Companions Gathering, I shared that the best response to “Where do we go from Here?” is returning, more deeply, into the roots of our Catholic Intellectual Tradition. It is a 2,000-year inquiry involving faith, science and reason. The pursuit of this tradition is expressed in justice.

In 1975, the 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus described our work, as companions and co-laborers, as “the service of faith and the promotion of justice.” In our own 2018-23 strategic plan, “Go Forth,” with its vision to create a more just world, we identified four pillars: innovation, mission, inclusivity and sustainability. And, for our 2021-22 academic year, I announced our intent to establish a center for faith and justice rooted in the second pillar associated with mission. The pursuit of this center is found in this language:  to become the leader in Kansas City in social justice thought and practice….by engaging the entire community in a common comprehensive outreach project.

During this last year of my tenure, I will remain fully committed to all the priorities we have before us, including the establishment and the foundation of the center for faith and justice. Through this center, we will consolidate our efforts in campus ministry, mission, DEI, community outreach, service learning, Prosperity Center, prison education and other related ventures.

Know that I consider it a distinct privilege, great blessing and inestimable gift to be a Rockhurst University companion. And, I am sure that we will have some opportunities to recall and give thanks, during this academic year, for our efforts, as companions and co-laborers, for these 16 years. 

As we commemorate the 500th anniversary of Ignatius Loyola commencing his conversion, after being struck by a cannonball in Pamplona, I pray that he may continue to intercede God’s blessing for you, your families and our Jesuit enterprise in higher education.

With deep gratitude, 

Thomas B. Curran, S.J.
President